544 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1820. On February 17, 177S, he married 

 Margaret Trauch, of Budnunster, who was 

 born in 1759 and died February 11, 181 1, ami 

 they reared a family of nine children, wdj 

 have left numerous descendants. 



Joseph Keller, the seventh child of Chris- 

 topher and Margaret, born in Haycock, No- 

 vember 10, 1794, died there February 14, 

 1877, was the grandfather of the subject of 

 this sketch. He was a blacksmith and 

 fanner, and lived all his life in Haycock 

 township, and was an elder of Kellers' 

 Lutheran church. His wife was Mary 

 Aliierbach, daughter of George and Dorothy 

 (Steinbach) Afflerbach, and a grand- 

 daughter of Heinrich and Dorothy (Keller; 

 Steinbach, the latter being a daughter of 

 Heinrich and Juliann Keller, above men- 

 tioned. Mrs. ^Mary (Afflerbach) Keller's pa- 

 ternal grandfather, Daniel Afflerbach, came 

 from Germany about the time of the Amer- 

 ican Revolution, and settled in Haycock. 



Abraham Keller, second child of Joseph 

 and Mary (Afflerbach) Keller, was the fa- 

 ther of the subject of this sketch. He was 

 born in Haycock township, September 16, 

 1823, and died in Bedniinster township. He 

 was a farmer in Plumstead for a number 

 of years after his marriage, and later in 

 Bedminster. In 1870 he entered into part- 

 nership with his cousin. Captain John H. 

 Afflerbach, in the general merchandise busi- 

 ness at Bedminsterville, under the firm 

 name of J. H. Afflerbach & Co., and three 

 years later purchased Mr. Afflerbach's in- 

 terest in the firm, and took into partner- 

 ship his son Lewis, the present proprietor 

 of the store, and later another son Joseph 

 was admitted to the firm, and I\Ir. Keller 

 retired from the firm, purchasing the hotel 

 at Bedminsterville, which he conducted for 

 ten years, after which he conducted a feed 

 store and looked after his farm and other 

 property until his death in 1880. He was 

 twice married; first October 10, 1847, to 

 Judith Myers, who was the mother of his 

 ten children; and second, December 26, 

 1881, to Susanna, widow of Franklin Stauf- 

 fer. Judith (Myers) Keller was born Feb- 

 ruary 3, 1829, and died December 23, 1880; 

 Abraham and Judith (jNIyers) Keller were 

 the parents of ten children, six of whom 

 survive, viz. : Mary, wife of H. S. Deaterly, 

 of Bedminster; Lewis, the Bedminsterville 

 merchant; Joseph, of Philadelphia; Abra- 

 ham M., of Doylestown; Catharine, wife 

 of CHnton Lerch. of Tinicum ; and Mahlon. 



Maliion Keller was the youngest 5on 

 of Abraham and Judith, and was born in 

 Plumstead township, but was reared and 

 educated in Bedminster. He remained on 

 the farm with his parents until the age of 

 sixteen, when he became a clerk in the 

 Bedminsterville store, where he remained 

 for nine years. In 1892 he purchased the 

 large mercantile establishment of Grier 

 Scheetz, at Perkasie, which he conducted 

 for seven years, and then sold out to Kulp 

 Brothers, the present proprietors, and 



opened an establishment for the manufac- 

 ture of clothing at Perkasie. In 1902 he 

 sold out this business and purchased the 

 clothing and gent's furnishing store which 

 he now conducts, of Moyer & George, and 

 is doing a tine business. He was elected 

 justice of the peace in 1895, and was re- 

 elected in 1900, and again in 1905. He has 

 also served as a school director. He is a 

 member of the Lutheran church, and po- 

 litically is a Democrat. He is a past master 

 of McCalla Ledge No. 596, F. and A. M.; 

 a past grand of Plumstead Lodge, I. O. O. 

 F. ; and a member of Mont Alto Lodge No. 

 246, K. of P., at Perkasie. He is also a 

 member of Aquilla Castle, No. 330, 

 Knights of the Golden Eagle. , He married 

 November 15, 1889, Mary Ella Albright, 

 daughter of John and Mary (Bryan) Al- 

 bright, and they are the parents of two 

 children : Paul, born May, 1894, and died 

 August, 1894; and Ralph, born May 27, 

 1897. 



REVEREND JOHN HENRY WAIDE- 

 LICH, who for the past sixteen years has 

 been the pastor of St. Michael's Lutheran 

 . Church at Sellersville, and of St. John's 

 Church in Rockhill township. Bucks county, 

 was born at Steinsville, Lehigh county, 

 Pennsylvania. March 17, i860, and is of 

 German parentage. 



Michael Frederick Waidelich, father of 

 the subject of this sketch, was the youngest 

 son of Jacob Waidelich by his first wife, 

 nee Hartman, and was born in Bosenfeld, 

 Wurtemberg, Germany, in the year 1831. 

 He came to this country in the year 1846, 

 and learned the trade of a wheelwright 

 with his eldest brother. Christian Waide- 

 lich, through w'hose influence he had come 

 to America. He married Sallie Follweiler, 

 of a German family whose ancestors had 

 settled in the upper part of Lehigh county 

 about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, her mother being a Wanamaker. They 

 were the parents of six children, five of 

 whom were boys, who were at the proper 

 age obliged to learn useful trades; and it 

 fell to the lot of the subject of this sketch 

 to learn the trade of coach painting. He 

 attended the public schools of his native 

 town and a private school for one session, 

 after which he passed a successful examina- 

 tion in the fall of 1877, and, receiving a 

 teacher's certificate, taught school in Berks 

 and Lehigh counties for a period of five 

 years. He then prepared for college at the 

 Keystone State Normal School at Kutz- 

 town, Pennsylvania, and entered Mulilcn- 

 berg College at Allentown in September, 

 1882. graduating with honors in June, 1886, 

 receiving a prize in gold for scholarship 

 in German. During the summer of 1885 he 

 filled the position of principal of Prospect 

 Institute at Steinsville, Lehigh county, Penn- 

 sylvania. Entering the Lutheran Theologi- 

 cal Seminary at Philadelphia, he graduated 

 in June, 1889, and was ordained In- tlie 



